Painting Wins Award

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.  I've been very sick this winter with all the viruses going around.  But now I'm back to my old self and ready to finish up canvases I've had on my easel.  So posts of those will be here soon!

At Old Borego, oil, 18 x 24 inches, Ann Hovis Wallace

Currently I'm grateful to share that this oil painting recently received an Honorable Mention award from the Gilbert Visual Art League (Gilbert, AZ) at its 13th Annual Juried Art Show.  

This work is based on a plein air piece I did several years ago near Anza Borrego State Park and Borrego Springs, California.  The site is at Old Borego, the historical center of Borrego Valley, where homesteaders first began to arrive around 1910.  The locals spelled the little town of Borego with one "r" in those days.  It had its own post office, general store, public school, Booster Club, and an assigned deputy sheriff.  The thriving little community suffered during the depression, population dwindled, and it lost its post office in July 1940.  After WW II ended, the area began to recuperate; but when a new community went on the market called Borrego Springs, the center was shifted away from Borego.  However, the store there remained open until the late 1950s.  Today Old Borego has new owners and a few of the old historical buildings have been preserved.  This painting is of the desert and mountains facing away from the old Borego post office building.

Completed!

Sacred Mesa, oil, 24 x 30 inches

Well, I finally completed this oil painting. I put the finishing touches on Monday. 

I worked the foreground quite a bit but kept it only as a passage into the painting.  I think I have enough focal points--in the pathway; highlights on the rabbit brush, mountain, etc.) to lead the viewer"s eye.  

I'm very pleased with the outcome. Hope you've enjoyed seeing the process.

Now I'm on to an new piece. 

Progress On My Easel, #4

I'm still playing around with this painting.  I'm pushing color just to see what I can get away with.  I think I will pull back on the color.  I need to define the foreground more, work the foreground and the background as they relate to each other, work the passages through the painting by creating various focal points,  and do some more to the sky.

Progress on My Easel, #3

A "bug" has been going around in my family.  So illness has kept me from doing much painting since my last post. I think we've all finally recovered, so I'm back in my studio. This post shows images of recent progress on my newest oil painting. I hope to have it completed this week.  

I have another painting that I'm already working on (in my head and on paper) that I will begin after this one is finished.

# 1

# 2

New on My Easel, Day 2

I spent just a little time in the studio today due to illnesses in the family.  But I did get some color spread around the canvas--enough that I can now start building on it.  Also, I think I have a mood expressed that I'd like to try to keep.  Stay tuned.

New on My Easel

I've started a new canvas--just sketched in.  The painting is based on a photo that I snapped while my husband and I were visiting Zuni, New Mexico last spring on our way to Santa Fe and Taos.  We lodged at a bed and breakfast in Zuni Pueblo for a couple of nights and briefly explored the area.  

The subject of the painting is Corn Mountain.  The area has its mystery and magic.  I hope to convey some of that mystery in my work.  I'll post more photos of the work as it progresses, so come back and visit my blog again.  You can see more of my work on my website at http://www.annhoviswallace.com

Winter Juried Exhibition

I have three oil paintings showing in the Winter Juried Exhibition at Jansen Art Center in Lynden, WA. The exhibit showcases artists' work in Whatcom County and the surrounding region -- 64 pieces from 25 artists.  The show is up through January 29, 2016.  Stop by to see it.  It's a wonderful distraction from the winter weather!  And who knows, you may find something to take home.

These are my three pieces that were accepted for the show.

Ann Wallace Paintings, Winter Juried Exhibition, 

Jansen Art Center, Lynden, WA

Tunnel View Has a Home and a Replacement

One never knows how, when and why a painting will be purchased!  I must say I like the suspense.  I was in North Carolina this past fall for a family reunion.  While I was there a friend saw my painting Tunnel View on my website and decided it had to be hers.  The painting is now lovingly hanging in a home in Savannah, Georgia.  I love it when a piece inspires joy.

Tunnel View was a painting which I had in a solo exhibit this summer in my home town Bellingham, WA.  So that the new owner could have her painting as soon as possible, I painted a replacement piece to hang in its place.   Does it look familiar?  I cropped the right-hand portion of Tunnel View and created the Three Brothers.  The new painting gets it name from the land formations I depicted named Three Brothers.  This location is in Yosemite National Park.
  

Tunnel View,  oil, 24 x 30 inches, SOLD 

The Three Brothers, oil, 24 x 30 inches, available

                          

Solo Exhibition of New Oil Paintings
(A Visit to Yosemite)

Tunnel View, 24 x 30 inches

Due to travel and life in general, I have not been blogging lately.  I am in Washington state now and settled back in Bellingham.  So I'll be getting back into my studio for new work projects.

This image is the completed painting I posted in May.  It will be the featured work in my solo exhibit in August.  The paintings in the show are inspired by a visit to Yosemite National Park.  The exhibit is showing August 3 - August 31 in the business show windows of DIS, 1315 Cornwall Avenue, Bellingham, WA.  If you are in the area, I hope you will stop by to see the exhibit.

Tunnel View -- Final Stage

This is almost completed. I'm setting it aside for a few days and have look at it later with fresh eyes.  I'll be able better to see what final tweaks are needed to call it finished.

This is a large painting, 24 x 30 inches. It's been interesting trying to interpret the great distance represented in this work, as well as the atmospheric perspective.

Take a look at my previous post of the sketch and block-in.